Enabling Product Development and other Life Cycle
Processes with PDM
PDM: An Enterprise Investment
Research Methodology
Product Data Management entails the management and classification of
product data and the management of change to this information.1 PDMtype applications are greatly impacting the way companies do business
throughout their product lifecycle – it is not just CAD drawings anymore.
Nine sites representing six different companies participated in the
research. For each company, up to six interviews were done: one regarding
the site, one to three pertaining to specific programs (legacy to conceptual),
and others as appropriate. Data were collected on 24 programs. Over 100
questions were asked covering topics such as requirements, schedule,
management support, and training.
Just this year, the aerospace industry is expected to spend $10.4 billion on
PDM/PLM technologies.2
That much and more in savings has been
promised by vendors. Many companies are deriving some benefits of PDM
but only after much heartache and hard lessons learned. Also, the full
potential of PDM is not being realized as suppliers struggle to catch up.
Although many consultants and vendors have provided assistance to
industry, they have not focused on the state of implementation and needs
across the industry. As Product Lifecycle Management evolves, it becomes
imperative for companies to make the most of their investment, taking the
opportunity to explore every process throughout the lifecycle and make it
work for the enterprise.
Enterprise Take-Aways
• PDM remains focused on the design stage
• Suppliers are moving up the food chain, yet they are behind the
curve on product data management capability
• Change management and data migration are the biggest challenges/
pitfalls
• Lean principles and practices should be used when implementing
PDM capability
• PDM enables Lean Enterprise Transformation
– opportunity to address enterprise value stream
• Common reasons for a suboptimal or failed solution may include:
lack of management support, continuing a parallel paper process,
not compelling users to adopt the system.
Two sites were also used for case studies, looking at the front-end process
of selecting a PDM, and the tension between change in the organization
and evolution of the technology. Results of those will be available postplenary.
Range of implementation
Number of Employee at each Site
periods: 1999 – present
4
3
1
0
0 - 1999
2000-4999 5000-7999 8000-10,999
Implementation Pitfalls
80%
non-CM
60%
CM
40%
PDM+
20%
PDM
2D
A
M D
et 3
a D
D
at
Sc En EB a
an g OM
St D No
ru ra te
c w s
To t A ing
ol na s
in ly
g si
M s
od
el
C s
Pr M AE
N ocu BO
on re M
-c m
on en
f
Te Da t
st ta
D
PM ata
Fi D
el at
M dD a
ai a
O nt D ta
th a
Sc er D ta
he at
du a
le
s
0%
C
Data Elements
• Number of sites that made their planned schedule?
• Number of sites with successful first-round training?
• Number of sites with consensus on good mgmt support?
• Number of programs continuing with a parallel paper
process?
• Percentage of programs still replicating data?
Evolution of Data Management
Where Data Elements Are Managed (Future)
Data Elements
1.
2.
http://www.pdteurope.com/what_is_pdt.html
http://www.daratech.com/press/releases/2005/050228.html
Functionality
5
4
3
2
1
I
n
al
B
PD LC Integration
C
tio
su
Co
lla
bo
ra
Vi
gm
Ch
an
ge
M
ct
ur
St
ru
Pr
od
w
kf
lo
t
e
t
M
gm
e
as
le
Re
0%
Results from Survey of PDM Maturity
(Current)
A
H
0%
c
PDM
g
20%
Sites were asked to rate their PDM implementation in the following areas:
1. Integration of Product Data Across the Product Lifecycle
2.  Extent of Supplier/Partner Integration
3.  Management of Workflow Electronically Throughout the Product Lifecycle
4.  Integration/Compatibility with Current Systems/Applications
PDM
20%
Do
PDM+
40%
Required SW
& HW
32%
Training and
Other
5%
Data Quality,
Migration…
9%
Maturity Assessment Survey
PDM+
tin
CM
60%
ul
60%
40%
nonPDM
Va
non-CM
Percentage
(Programs)
80%
CA
D
CA 2
M D D
et 3
a D
Da
Sc E EB ta
an ng O
St D No M
ru ra te
To ct A win s
ol na gs
in ly
g si
M s
od
el
s
C
Pr M A
No ocu BO E
n- re M
co m
nf en
Te Da t
st ta
PM Dat
Fi D a
el a
M d D ta
ai a
O nt D ta
th a
Sc er D ta
he at
du a
le
s
Percentage
(Programs)
100%
Where Money is Being Spent for PDM
Implementations
Process
Consulting
Development
19%
35%
Expertise of Interviewees:
Lean Change Agents, Six
Sigma Blackbelts, Directors of
IT and Engineering, Program
and IPT Managers, CM, Senior,
And Process Engineers
≥ 6 of 21
90%
Current Functional Use of PDM (2004)
100%
80%
1 out of 8
1 out of 8
4 out of 8
Why? What are the common mistakes are people making? How
should we plan differently?
W
or
C
AD
Percentage
(Programs)
100%
11,000+
Employees
PDM
Where Data Elements Are Managed (Past)
Total implementation
experience:
4 Vendor products
34+ years of ‘next-gen’
2
G
D
F
E
Sup/Part Integration
Electronic Workflow
System Integration
A through H represent the sites
Possible answers ranged from 1 to 5
For more information, contact Erisa K. Hines
erisak@mit.edu
617-258-7984
Research Team: Tom Shields, shields@mit.edu; Jayakanth “JK” Srinivasan,